With a random but welcome Friday the 13th (the anniversary of my first official date with my husband), Valentine’s day, and my actual wedding anniversary this month, it is difficult to be cowed by the additional month of winter promised by that simple word “February” on the calendar. Add to these red letter days the fact that February is also a big month for family birthdays – my father’s (88 and counting – Go, Herbie!) my youngest sister’s (Ok, so maybe we won’t bandy about any specific numbers for that one), and my aunt’s, and we find ourselves skipping from one celebration to the next all month.
Finally, February is the month when Stitches West happens, and I will most certainly be there.
I’ve cast on for what the pattern calls the “skirt” of the Lotus Cardigan. Four HUNDRED and twenty-two stitches, knit in K2-P2 ribbing for 1 1/2 inches that I thought would never materialize. On size 9 needles with the bulky Noro Kochoran yarn, you’d think this would go pretty fast, but my fingers were cramping by the time I completed that step and could finally begin the first decreases AND switch over to stockinette. This is what it looks like so far:
I am the Lotus serpent…
I absolutely love the soft blues and greens in this Kochoran yarn, but briefly considered cutting out the runs of gray and brown that streak through the skeins. Then it occurred to me that those cooler, more muted colors have the effect of warming and brightening the blues and greens and making them all the more appealing for the contrast. Take a closer look. See what I mean?
Comments welcome